There are places you visit once and they stay with you forever. Socotra is exactly that. An isolated Yemeni island in the Arabian Sea between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, it feels more like a sci‑fi set than a real …
Driving with a dog: our experience and gear
These days, traveling by car with our dog is second nature. It wasn’t like that at the start. As with most things dog-related, what mattered most was patience, a gradual introduction, and adapting to the needs of the individual dog. …
Parking in Norway: apps, payments, and sleeping in your car
Parking in Norway is generally straightforward, but if you’re visiting this Nordic country for the first time, it can feel a little confusing at the start. The issue isn’t so much a shortage of spaces as the way you pay …
Ålesund: Norway’s Art Nouveau icon
After days spent mostly in nature, we slept in and didn’t set off for Ålesund until the afternoon. We’re not aiming for a full city tour here—just a short stop to break up the rhythm of a road trip that, …
Parking fines in Norway
Parking in Norway works, much like most things here, more or less without a hitch. It’s fairly straightforward, well signposted, digitised and, in most towns, runs without needless complications. The trouble usually comes if you misread the text on a …
Free ferries in Norway
Ferries are a natural part of Norway’s road network. For locals they’re everyday transport; for travellers they’re often an essential link when weaving through fjords, islands and a rugged coastline. Most ferries charge a fare, but there’s also a lesser-known …
Skrova: Lofoten from a Different Angle
After hiking up Ryten, we wake in the little town of Stamsund and decide to spend the day working our way toward Narvik. The forecast makes it clear there’s no point committing to anything big, but we break up the …
Ryten: Iconic Lofoten Views
Ryten is one of Lofoten’s best-known peaks and, despite its modest 543 meters, delivers iconic views of the ocean, sheer rock walls, and Kvalvika Beach far below. The trail isn’t technical and the elevation gain is modest, but that blend …
Atlantic Road: an icon, unfiltered
We’re heading to another well-known stop on our road trip: the Atlantic Ocean Road, or Atlanterhavsvegen in Norwegian. It’s a short yet iconic stretch of road on Norway’s west coast that links a string of tiny islands and skerries in …
Nordøyane: little-known islands an hour from Ålesund
In 2024, during our road trip through Scandinavia and the Baltic states, we ended up driving almost the entire Nordøyane archipelago. This little-known corner of Norway slipped into the itinerary by pure chance—while planning, a road threading across these islands …

